SIR Richard Branson has taken his Virgin Mobile business across the Channel in a bid to shake up the French phone market.

The tycoon has joined forces with retailer Carphone Warehouse for the venture, which will run off the phone network of Orange and offer the same rates for pre-pay customers as contract holders.

It hopes to become the country's fourth biggest operator, with a target of one million customers within three years.

Sir Richard predicted the business would open up competition in a market that he said had previously been driven by enforced loyalty to one operator and offered different prices for customers.

He added: "In France, the existing operators defend their interests and consumers have lost confidence in them. We want to offer an alternative - an operator that doesn't work against its customers, but with them."

The launch marked the start of what is expected to a significant week for the operator, as the FTSE 250 Index company is expected to announce it has agreed the terms of a é961 million takeover by NTL.

The cable group wants to create a communications giant offering a range of services to about nine million customers under the Virgin brand. Virgin Mobile is a "virtual operator" using the network of T-Mobile in Britain , while it also operates in Australia, the United States and Canada.